


All In My Head (A Figment of My Imagination)

by archangel_kitten



Category: Supernatural
Genre: ((Congrats guys)), (Posted in honor of the Destiel Wedding), (with Dean and Sam and Miracle in the bunker), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But Chuck believed it so strongly that he projected his reality onto the Winchester gospels, Castiel Lives, Castiel and Dean get married, Crack theory treated seriously, Dean Lives, Destiel - Freeform, Destiel Wedding, Destiel is canon, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Everything that happened in the show after Chuck became human is a figment of Chuck's imagination, F/M, Fix It Fic, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Intellectual crack, M/M, Saileen (mentioned briefly), Set mid 15x19, The finale didn't happen, human!Cas, sort of meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:22:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29450733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archangel_kitten/pseuds/archangel_kitten
Summary: Chuck imagines what would happen if he could manage to retain his power. God's Will is strong enough that even as he becomes human, he is able to project his desired version of events with such force that it obscures the true out. The result? The Winchester Gospels fail to transmit to readers that Team Free Will did get their happy ending.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	All In My Head (A Figment of My Imagination)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is set during 15x19, right as Jack is draining Chuck of his power. The premise of the story is that everything that happens in the show after Chuck loses his powers is a fantasy in Chuck's mind. However, because he is God, he warps outsiders’ perceptions of what happened. As a result, outside observers never get to see Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jack (and Eileen and Miracle) have the happy ending that they deserve.  
> This is a product of a thought experiment that I took too seriously and then had to turn into a fic. The basic premise is that the Supernatural that we see is a censored version of the Supernatural universe (evidence in support of this theory: the Ghostfacers have to edit out Dean saying *bleep* on their recording). The following thought was that what if Chuck was able to manipulate the version of events that outsiders looking into the Supernatural universe were able to see? As in, what if Chuck made his story which completely disregarded the actual outcome? So this led me to the conclusion that everything that happened post 15x19 was Chuck's fantasy. It is only by the grace of a (self-professed) cruel and capricious God who believed so strongly in his version of events that Chuck was able to warp our version of 'canon'.  
> Therefore, you, dear reader, can rest easy knowing that a very human Castiel was rescued from the Empty by Sam, Dean, and Jack. Castiel is now living with his husband(!!!!) Dean in the bunker, with their beloved dog Miracle, their son Jack, their brother/brother-in-law Sam, and their sister-in-law Eileen. (Yes I am a proud finale denialist, and no one can take that away from me.)  
> I wrote yesterday, and am posting it today (2/14/21) in honor of the Destiel Wedding. Congrats guys, you deserve all good things :')  
> I will definitely come back and edit this, so please forgive any misspellings or grammatical errors.  
> With regards to formatting, everything that did happen (both in canon and in my version of reality) is upright, while everything that Chuck imagines is in italics.

As Jack’s hands clasp both sides of his head, Chuck comes to the inescapable conclusion that this is…the end. He recalls the Richard Siken poem _Wishbone_ , thinks about the narrator’s confident assertion of “you’re not getting out of this one Henry.” Like Siken’s persona, Jack has turned himself into a weapon, one that’s now trained on Chuck. Now, Chuck is left with no way out. So as Chuck feels his powers course of his body like blood out of a severed artery, Chuck allows himself to imagine.

He imagines what would happen if he could escape, if he could make it out with his power intact. _He would let Jack and Sam and Dean think that they had won; that they’d vanquished the ultimate villain. To sell the act, Chuck would beg for a glorious end which they would refuse to grant him. Then, he would simply disappear, pretending to be an anchorless, wayward human._

 _But as The Creator, Chuck wouldn’t be able to perform such an act without leaving a calling-card of sorts_. Just as he had left one animal alive earlier, allowed Dean to take in the scrappy dog which the man had named Miracle, before taking the pet away. Chuck had considered leaving behind a cat: a scruffy tomcat used to living on the leftover morsels of food that he had found and then had to fight to defend. After such a life, the cat would have felt drawn to the caretaker he saw within Dean, and he would never have left the human’s side.

But a cat wouldn’t have worked. The feline might remind Dean too much of Castiel, or Dean might hesitate to take him in because of the man’s allergies or masculinity hang-ups. And so Chuck had decided on a dog. A mid-sized, beige dog that would have come whenever Dean called. Dean could have taught him various tricks, feed him human food when Sam wasn’t looking, and establish a profound bond.

Earlier, Chuck had left the dog behind to let Dean feel that he had accomplished something, then he had taken it away to drive home the magnitude of Dean’s failure _. Now, Chuck would have the dog return to them so that the animal could serve as a constant reminder of Chuck’s influence over them. God would willingly pretend to be human, yet he would never let the Winchesters forget him._

_Of course, Chuck would let Jack restore Miracle alongside the rest of Earth’s beings. The Nephilim could save the brothers’ friends and allies, even resurrect monsters so that the Winchesters could satisfy their hunting addiction. Chuck would permit the Winchesters to live in the bunker for a little while. Let Dean get used to Castiel’s absence, feel the empty space left behind. Allow Dean to contemplate the horrors that Castiel was experiencing. Dean could have his corporeal distractions, his hunts, his pornography, his booze. All of this would lead Dean to realize that even though Castiel had sacrificed himself to save the human, Dean couldn’t even save himself._

_And then? Well, then Chuck would set Dean free. But not on Dean’s terms. No, he wouldn’t be allowed to retire, to have a normal life. That wouldn’t be enough of a punishment. Instead, he would let experience the sweet release of an early grave. Of course, Chuck couldn’t let Dean die on the man’s own terms. Dean had always envisioned himself dying in the blaze of battle, losing his life while doing something heroic. So Dean would die during a hunt, but it wouldn’t be a monster that killed him. Maybe, Sam could…? No, Dean would never believe that. Perhaps Dean could trip over something, hit his head, and never wake up. But that wouldn’t do either, since it wouldn’t give Dean a chance to realize that he was leaving his Sammy all alone. It also had to be painful. Chuck pictured Dean impaled through the chest by an iron rod, and knew that would be it. Agonizingly painful for Dean, while giving him enough chance to call out to Sam, so that Sam could watch the light in his brother’s eyes go out. It would give Dean time, just a few moments before he died, to realize that Castiel’s sacrifice had been for nothing._

_Even in heaven, Chuck would torment him. He would position Dean’s heaven next to that of his father, so that even in his final resting place, the God-killer would be tortured by the mere presence of John Winchester. Dean would take to the road in the Impala, on the run even after his death. Maybe Chuck would insinuate to Dean through Bobby or some other family member that Castiel had been resurrected, but Dean would never see the angel. And so the man would agonize over why he never saw his Cas._

_As for Sam? That was trickier. He too deserved to get a bastardized version of what he had always wanted. The younger Winchester had always professed a desire for a normal life, so that’s what Chuck would give him. The deity loved the narrative aesthetic of bringing the brothers’ stories full circle, since it would mean that nothing that Sam and Dean had built together over the past 15 years would matter. Dean would die bloody and almost alone, as he always knew would happen to him. Sam would get a wife and a dog. A wife whom Sam could never fully love, since she would never know about his life as a hunter or how he truly lost his brother. And he’d inherit Dean’s dog, so that the animal could serve as a constant reminder of Sam’s dead brother and angel. Sam could try to make amends by having a son, naming him after Dean, and giving him a good life. But to Sam, it would always feel wrong, as Dean was the father to Sam rather than the other way around. And so Samuel Winchester would have the perfect family with a wife, a son, and a dog. His neighbors would see a successful lawyer who was charmingly evasive about his past. His wife would see the shadows behind his eyes and would have to pull him out of his nightmares almost every evening. Sam would feel that he should be happy, but he would have survivor’s guilt. He would not truly be at peace even in his idyllic life, and his death from old age would be a mercy more than a tragedy._

_In heaven, Sam and Dean might be reunited, but there would be a distance between the brothers. They would try to ignore it, but Dean would hate himself for resenting that Sam got to live while Dean didn’t. Sam would be consumed with guilt for letting his brother die so pointlessly. And so their eternal existence would be a form of constant torment._

_And would Castiel be resurrected?_ Chuck considers whether it would be more painful for the angel to stay in the Empty alone and in constant pain, or if it would be worse to be reunited with Jack but to be kept away from the love of his existence, Dean Winchester. Chuck is inclined towards the latter, but feels that either outcome would be a sufficiently tragic end to Castiel’s pitiful existence. He’s not important enough for Chuck to spare him more than a passing thought.

And so before Chuck becomes human, he imagines these possibilities. And with the last of his power, he infuses his imaginings with some artificial veracity. Since Chuck believes these things so strongly, it is almost as if these events actually did happen. The Winchester Gospels will reflect Chuck’s truth, rather than the absolute truth. Readers of the Gospels will see Dean’s tragic death and lack of postmortem peace, Sam’s desperate attempts to continue without his brother, and Castiel’s conspicuous absence. They won’t see the brothers and Jack rally to rescue Castiel from the Empty, even though it means that Castiel must die as angel in order to live as a human. They won’t see Dean accept his love for Castiel, and Castiel’s love for him. He won’t see Sam’s raucous celebration of Dean’s 42nd birthday or the quiet vows that Dean and Castiel exchange three weeks later with Jody acting as the officiant and her adopted daughters acting as the audience. They won’t see Miracle scampering around the bunker and licking Dean’s face each morning in greeting. They won’t see Sam, Dean, and Castiel raise Jack, while Jack reorders heaven for the better. They won’t see the Winchesters’ (Castiel included) retire from hunting. Chuck will conceal the reality that Dean works hard to become a firefighter so that he can continue to help people. He will cover over the fact that Castiel decides to become a professional bee-keeper, and excels at his new vocation. He will hide that Sam finally earns law degree.

Readers won’t see the quiet yet fulfilling life that Castiel and Dean have together, nor will they see the tearful reunion that Sam has with Eileen and their own happy ending. Chuck won’t allow readers to learn the two humans, the now-human fallen angel, and the Nephilim, having the happy ending that they deserve. After all, even taking control of your own narrative doesn’t mean that others can’t tell the story differently, nor does it prevent an outsider from telling what should have happened rather than what did happen. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope this made some shred of sense to at least one of you. Also please note that I absolutely think that Castiel is important but to Chuck, he isn't. 
> 
> ***Disclaimer I do not own any of these characters [and I am simply working with them as a twisted form of therapy after the disaster that was the SPN finale]


End file.
